The Library Chronicles: Jacuzzi's Halloween Party
by alicekinsno1
Summary: Jacuzzi Splot from Baccano! comes to the Library too early and finds himself stuck there on Halloween night with only characters from scary anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion for company. Rated T as a precaution.
1. Chapter 1: The Gathering Crowds

The Library Chronicles: Jacuzzi Crashes a Halloween Party

_A/N: So here I have another story set in The Library. This one's about Jacuzzi Splot (HA!) from Baccano! and his hilarious misadventures in this Library on Halloween night. I decided to have him interact with Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion because I felt they had quite a bit in common, characterization-wise, though their stories are very different. This story is at least part thought experiment: I'm looking to see if I can convert my own feelings about Halloween into something entertaining to outsiders. I OWN NOTHING!_

When Jacuzzi Splot came to the library one day, he noticed that it was different from what he expected. It was mid-fall, when he and all his friends and enemies usually came to set up camp—but they had never come across a library space so garishly-decorated as it was now. Black things hung from the ceiling, orange-and-black banners lined all the walls, spiderwebs clung to all available corners, and Jacuzzi could swear he saw a thin tendril of black smoke coming from underneath one of the doors on the other side of the room he was in. He began to feel uneasy almost immediately, and became downright terrified when he realized that he could see no other _Baccano!_ characters anywhere, not even Nice, his best friend and lover, whom he hardly went anywhere without.

For awhile, Jacuzzi just sat there, analyzing the situation and trying to calm himself down. "Maybe Halloween's over and they just haven't taken down the decorations yet?" he mused. However, the golden tinge to the light shining in through the window disproved that theory quickly: if it were nightfall on November first all decorations would have gone down. Besides, other _Baccano!_ characters who had come to the library before him in years past hadn't reported anything about needing to take down decorations.

His worst fears were confirmed when he took a good, hard look at some of the other people in the library, none of which looked familiar and all of which looked forbidding. One of the first groups he laid eyes on included a man, surrounded by many beautiful women and girls of various ages. Their hair was either black, brown, or pink. Some of these girls, Jacuzzi noted with puzzlement, seemed to have what looked like cat ears on their heads. They looked almost friendly, despite their weird hair. This rapidly proved to be wishful thinking as the first one to notice him was a little pink-haired girl, who said: "Look everyone, it's some new man! Can I kill him?"

"Honestly, Mariko," said an older girl with brighter-pink hair, "You know we can't kill anyone here!"

"That's laaaame," the girl called Mariko groaned.

It was all Jacuzzi could do to keep himself from screaming. These people weren't friendly at all! He tried desperately to yank his eyes away from their bright-pink hair. In _Baccano!_ everyone Jacuzzi knew had modestly-colored hair, either brown or red or blonde or black. By no means were these the only hair colors he had ever encountered; he had seen some weird hair colors in the cast of _Cowboy Bebop_, for example- but bright pink hair? That was new to him. Mariko was still staring hungrily at him. She reminded him, uncomfortably, of Ladd Russo.

A new group of characters seemed to be arriving now: three boys and one girl. The first boy in the group had short brown hair; the second, long black hair that reached past his shoulders. The third, smallest boy, had short black hair; and the girl's hair was short and pink. All four of them wore black body suits covered with patches and buttons. "Just what are they wearing?" Jacuzzi muttered through clenched teeth, careful not to attract their attention. "There you folks are," growled the boy with the short black hair.

"This time we're gonna get you, aliens!" the brown-haired boy interjected.

"We are not aliens!" protested the girl with the short pink hair, "We're Diclonius!"

"Nana's right-nyuu!" interjected the older pink-haired girl, who was now speaking in a completely different voice from before.

"Bah, you are aliens," said the girl dressed in black.

"Guys, please!" said the long-haired boy, "Can we try to keep this pleasant, just for once?" Jacuzzi sighed and turned away from them, not understanding.

Next came a whole motley host of characters, which reminded Jacuzzi somewhat of the large gangs back at his home; but they regarded him with a flighty nervousness quite unlike anything he expected from his warmhearted friends (or foes). The woman who led them carried a creepy pink plush dog, and rounding out this pack was a boy carrying what looked like a bent baseball bat.

Now two men and a woman arrived to mingle with the rest. One man was huge and muscular, with a big sword, while the other was tall and slim, with long bluish-white hair. The woman was thin and slight, with dark skin and hair. Just the intense, vaguely mournful looks on their faces made Jacuzzi cringe.

Just then, four characters approached him, among them a woman in her late twenties, dressed in red, with dark-blue hair; and three children: a brown-haired boy wearing a white collared shirt, a light blue-haired girl with red eyes, wearing a green-and-white dress, and a third girl, attired similarly to the other but with long red hair and blue eyes. "W-who are you?" Jacuzzi stammered.

"My name is Misato," explained the woman, "And these are Shinji, Rei, and Asuka." The woman indicated the boy, blue-haired girl, and red-haired girl in turn. The three young teenagers merely eyed Jacuzzi suspiciously.

"Who are you?" Asuka sneered.

"M-my name's J-Jacuzzi S-splot," Jacuzzi explained. "Normally my friends and I come here after Halloween's over but… I guess I just came here early." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"We're from _Neon Genesis Evangelion_," Shinji put in, "and… where do you come from?"

"I'm from _Baccano!_" Jacuzzi replied. "So… what h-happens on Halloween here, anyway?" At that question, the _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ group fell silent, and started looking at one another strangely. "W-what?" he stammered.

"Oho, if you have to ask," Asuka snapped, an impudent smirk spreading across her face, "You just wait! You're gonna be scared out of your mind!"

"N-no… no, I…,"Jacuzzi began, close to tears. "Oh, this is awful!" he screamed, "Stuck in the library on Halloween night…!"

"Well…, if it makes you feel better," said Misato, "You won't be in physical danger. You must know that in this library no one ever dies."

"Yeah, but they'll trick you into thinking you will fast!" Asuka interjected.

"Asuka, be polite," Shinji whispered quietly, not facing her. But Jacuzzi was already frightened. What did Asuka mean, they would make him forget he couldn't die? He'd faced physical danger many times in _Baccano!_ He had stood up to Ladd Russo, been in a train disaster involving a lunatic, and even gotten himself a permanent facial tattoo for his friend. He was used to danger, so surely this would be easier. But… he was a scaredy-cat. And everyone knew it.

The last traces of sun were just visible over the horizon now. One of the latecoming groups was fronted by a tall, thin man dressed in a long, red coat and large red hat; a woman dressed in a gray suit and glasses with dark skin and light hair; and a much smaller woman, with bright orange hair and a blue uniform. The very last group to arrive was yet another boy, surrounded by girls. The girls had some of the wildest hair colors Jacuzzi had ever seen: green, blue, light-purple, orange, and bright-yellow.

Jacuzzi was happy to see that this last group, at least, appeared friendly. "Hello!" said the boy, "My name's Keiichi! What's yours?"

"My name's Jacuzzi," said Jacuzzi, nervous by this sudden burst of attention.

"This," Keiichi went on, "is Mion, Shion,"- he indicated the two green-haired girls- "Rena,"- he indicated the orange-haired girl- "Satoko, Hanyuu, and Rika." He indicated respectively the yellow-haired, purple-haired, and blue-haired girls.

"You're not from around this time, are you?" asked Rika, the girl with blue hair.

"I… no," said Jacuzzi, "I sorta… got stuck here."

"Oh," said some of the girls, who suddenly started whispering and eyeing him nervously.

"W-what?" Jacuzzi stammered.

"Oh, just… we've never had anyone else come by here," said the orange-haired girl, "This should be… interesting."

Jacuzzi wondered if he dared to ask what she meant by that. But at this point, other characters had noticed him, and were staring and muttering under their breath. He gave an involuntary shudder.

"You seem surprised by all these people," Asuka observed.

"Well, yeah, they're…" Jacuzzi watched in morbid fascination as the brown-haired boy in the black suit started asking some of the girls for sexual favors. "Nothing like I've ever seen before."

"See, that's the problem with not getting here on major holidays," Asuka continued, "You've probably never seen anything except boring, undistinguished _Baccano!_ characters inside the library or out…."

"That's not true," Jacuzzi protested.

"Oh, really?" said Asuka.

"Yeah," said Jacuzzi, "We've met the _Cowboy Bebop_ cast; they frequently come along towards the end of our run. And occasionally we've stayed out the winter solstice and hung with the casts of _Pumpkin Scissors_, or _Fullmetal Alchemist_…."

"Boooring," Asuka interrupted.

"Asuka, you don't need to do that," whimpered Shinji.

Jacuzzi looked out the window and gulped when he saw the very last flicker of daylight just above the horizon. In fact, all the characters were watching the window now, in anticipation so thick it could be cut with a knife. The scary characters radiated pent-up excitement and energy; Jacuzzi felt as though his insides were falling through his stomach. He thought for sure he would throw up. He could practically feel his face turning green. His heart beat so fast the entire chair he was sitting in began trembling.

After what seemed like ages, the sky grew completely dark.

_Bum bum buuuuuuummm…!_

_Sorry if this comes across as a bit random and disjointed. I felt I had to introduce the characters and set the scene. The story will get better, trust me_


	2. Chapter 2: Spooky Food

After the sky grew dark, everyone scattered feverishly as a few of them went to open a door at the other end of the room. Black smoke soon began filling the room, as a few of the characters brought in tables with covered trays. At first Jacuzzi was thrilled at the prospect of food, but his enthusiasm turned to revulsion when he saw what was under the trays: cookies and cake made from brains, goblets full of custard and eyeballs, and what looked like severed zombie hands, among other things. Just then, Keiichi called him over: "Come eat with us!"

"Um… okay?" Jacuzzi wasn't sure how to reply. The other characters all looked perfectly happy eating this weird food, and so he steeled himself and started exploring the buffet tables. He picked up an unassuming pumpkin-shaped cookie and took a small bite. "It's actually not too bad," he admitted. Then he took a bigger bite, and gagged as his teeth touched something slimy and gross. "Aagh!" he screamed, "What is in this thing?"

"Oh, those pumpkin cookies," Keiichi smiled at him knowingly, "Made with frog guts." Jacuzzi was too stunned to speak. But he simply gave a sigh and went to look for other foods. Eventually his eyes landed on the orange-haired woman from earlier, who was mixing a milkshake. Something about the bright-red shake appealed to Jacuzzi, who in a sudden burst of daring walked over. Unable to muster enough courage to actually speak, he simply eyed the drink until the woman looked at him incredulously, and handed it over. As Jacuzzi sipped from the straw, he couldn't help but notice a vaguely metallic taste. Living in a violent gangster scene, he knew only too well what it was. "D-does this have b-blood in it?" he gasped to the woman.

"Yes, it does," she replied in a bored tone.

"Don't you guys have any real food?" Jacuzzi gasped.

"I'm a vampire; this is my real food," the woman explained.

"What can a guy like me eat here?" Jacuzzi protested.

"What would you normally eat?" asked the woman, "If you could."

"I'd eat roast turkey and mashed potatoes and green salad and cranberry sauce and wheat rolls and toffee apples and pumpkin pie…."

"Pumpkin pie, you say?" said the woman.

"Yeah..."

"Oh, we have those," said the woman, pointing to some small pastries in individual pie cups.

"Okay…," said Jacuzzi, "And… would those have anything… in them?" he gulped.

"I don't know," the woman sighed, "I've never eaten them. But they shouldn't."

Still wary, Jacuzzi walked over to the table with the pumpkin treats, and picked one up. He bit into it carefully. It tasted a little spicy, but did seem to be made from real pumpkins. Having consumed one of these pumpkin pies, Jacuzzi felt thirsty, and so turned his attention to some orange-and-black shakes sitting on a nearby table. He warily picked one up, and started sipping from it. It tasted sweet and creamy, with no strange textures or objects. So he slowly finished the shake, and went to look for other items he could eat.

The next second, Jacuzzi saw someone out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Shinji, holding a plate loaded with food. "I noticed you were looking for something more… normal to eat," said Shinji, in a small and almost apologetic voice, "So… I got you everything I could come up with."

"Oh… t-thanks," said Jacuzzi, cautiously taking the plate from Shinji. He examined the various offerings. Among them were spiders made from peanut butter, candy corn in the shape of fangs, some of the gummy rats, and rather suspicious-looking corn-on-the-cob covered in red sauce, which Jacuzzi was happy to see was made from tomatoes. Shinji himself was eating soup which gave off a bright-orange flame, and eyeball custard. "Y-you eat eyeballs…?" Jacuzzi stammered.

"Yeah," said Shinji, "The custard is delicious; it's a shame I'm lactose-intolerant."

"Huh?" said Jacuzzi.

"I can't digest milk."

"You're eating eyeball custard even though you can't digest milk?"

"It's that good!" Shinji insisted.

Jacuzzi, moved by Shinji's endorsement, went over to the cold eyeball custards and began eating from one of them. It was actually quite good, if you could ignore the eyeballs.

Just then, Misato appeared behind the two boys. "Hey, Shinji!" she said, eyeing Jacuzzi, "You seem to have made a friend."

"Yeah, I…," Shinji sighed.

"Excellent!" said Misato. "It's always good to see Shinji talking to new people," she said to Jacuzzi, "The poor guy just doesn't get many opportunities to socialize."

"Okay," said Jacuzzi, not sure what else to say.

"Shinji," said Misato, "Why don't you show Jacuzzi around?"

"Oh… okay," said Shinji. He turned to Jacuzzi again, "So… uh… we'll be heading into the other room shortly for… ah… games and… drugs."

"Drugs?" said Jacuzzi. "You mean like, medicine?"

"No," said Shinji, "I mean, really hard drugs. You'll see once we get into the other room."

"Okay," said Jacuzzi, "And then what happens?"

Shinji stood up a little straighter now, and he cracked a small smile. "The haunted house."

"The haunted house?" said Jacuzzi, "What's that?"

"It's this big structure that's attached to the library, just for us," Shinji went on. "It's full of all sorts of scary things. And it stays open until midnight, when Halloween's over."

"It's the last part of this party," said Rei, who was just now approaching the table.

"And it's the best," said Shinji, who now looked almost cheerful.

Just then, Asuka approached them. When she saw Jacuzzi, she scowled, "Why are you all hanging out with this loser?"

Jacuzzi opened his mouth to speak, but Shinji shook his head.

"Bah, whatever," said Asuka, "Who needs you morons anyway? I'm going into the other room." She stalked off.

"She… she d-doesn't seem very… nice," Jacuzzi whispered to Shinji.

"She isn't," Shinji replied, even more softly. "B-but… it isn't her fault; she has it really hard. So do all of us."

"Really?" said Jacuzzi, "Do you get beaten up a lot? I know I do!"

"Well… we don't get physically beaten up much, unless we're fighting supernatural enemies," Shinji explained. "But… we don't need to. Instead we get mind-raped and scared to death and traumatized in all sorts of other ways. It's not fun to be a _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ character, believe me!"

"Gee…" said Jacuzzi.

"In fact," said Misato, "Just about everyone here regularly faces all sorts of scary situations."

"So… why would you want to scare yourselves even more?" asked Jacuzzi.

"Most of the things we see and do here don't actually scare us," said Misato, "We just pretend they do. It takes our mind off of the real horrors we have to confront. Our time to relax and hang out."

"Really?" said Jacuzzi, "And that's why you come to the library?"

"Pretty much," said Shinji.

"When we come to the library," said Jacuzzi, "It's always to throw parties that bring us closer together. We're all very social… except me." He hung his head.

Nobody got a chance to comment on that, however, because just then Rei murmured: "I think people are heading toward the other room."

"Okay, let's go!" said Misato, standing up. She turned to Jacuzzi. "Are you coming?"

"I… sure," said Jacuzzi, who finished the last few bites of food on his plate and dragged his feet toward the door into a dark room, as terror once again began to rise in his throat.


	3. Chapter 3: The Next Stage

_A/N: So, I hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. I'm sorry if it's seemed kind of boring up until now, but it'll get much better soon. Please review and tell me if I'm keeping everyone in character. Songs you may encounter thus far belong to their respective owners whom I cannot always identify. All songs found in this fic come off of Drew's Famous® Kids' Halloween Costume Party unless otherwise indicated. So… I OWN NOTHING!_

Jacuzzi cautiously followed Misato, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka into the next room, which was very dark, and full of thick, black smoke. Orange-and-white lights danced all over the floor, and several tables were set up around. On one side of the room was an apparatus Jacuzzi could not fully identify.

Jacuzzi, now a bit disoriented, decided to search for a game to play. Eventually he found a table with four bowls on it, each containing one of four items: a ring, an old leather-bound Bible, water, or a lump of clay. "Did you want to play?" asked Misato, walking over to him.

"I… yeah," said Jacuzzi, picking up a piece of cloth that was on the table.

"Oh, that's a blindfold," said Misato. "The rules of the game are, you cover your eyes with it and then you try to stick your hand into one of the four bowls, which are supposed to determine your future." She indicated the pink-haired girl in the black body suit, who had just put her hand in the clay.

"Okay," said Jacuzzi, not sure if he wanted to know what each one stood for. He wasn't superstitious, but after being served blood milkshakes and eyeball custard, he would believe anything of the things here. Regardless, he was about to put the blindfold on, when Rika came up to him. "You know," she said with a strange little smile, "If your hand lands in the clay, it's supposed to mean you'll be dead within the year."

"W-what?" Jacuzzi practically shrieked, putting down the blindfold and backing away.

"Don't worry, it's only a game," said Misato in a bored voice.

"Okay," said Jacuzzi, who put on his blindfold and placed his hand down in a bowl, hoping that he wouldn't put it in the clay, just in case. But he placed his hand on the ring instead. He picked it up and showed it to Rika. "What does this one mean?" he asked.

"Oh, that means you're gonna get married!" Rika giggled.

Jacuzzi felt his face flush bright red as he thought of Nice. He buried it in his hands and went away. "Really?" he muttered to himself. "But... Misato did say it was only a game." He stared at the ring again, before placing it back in the bowl with the blindfold and going away.

He walked around the room a little, noticing some people spooning things out of cauldrons into glasses, or else picking up white pellets and placing them in their mouths. "What are those?" he asked Shinji.

"Oh, those are the drugs I talked about," said Shinji.

"These things?" Jacuzzi picked up a pellet.

"Yep," said Shinji.

"What could a white pellet do?" asked Jacuzzi. As he pondered this, he put it in his mouth. Immediately his world seemed to be dissolving around him. He saw flashes of light, weird colors and shapes in front of his eyes. His body felt really hot, and he began to sweat. The sounds around him all seemed to run together. Suddenly, something looking like a big demon head appeared in front of him, and began laughing so hard it hurt his ears. He passed out.

When he woke up, he was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. "W-what happened?" he asked.

"Oh, you had a really bad reaction to the drug," Misato explained, "You'd better stay away from them for the rest of the night."

"Oh… okay," said Jacuzzi, not sure if he wanted to go through that again anyway.

Instead, he focused on the cauldrons. They were full of bubbling substances with really foul colors and smells. The minute he looked into a potion, he caught one whiff and backed away with an urge to vomit. But that didn't stop the other characters. Not only did they keep drinking the potions and eating the pellets, but they seemed perfectly happy to do that until they passed out just as he did. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, some children (and the creepy pink dog one of the women had brought in, Jacuzzi noticed with puzzlement) were gathered around a big screen, watching scenes. Jacuzzi, intrigued, went and sat behind them, just far enough away for the children not to notice. Some of the music in the shows was rather catchy, and Jacuzzi managed to not only enjoy them a little bit, but calm his nerves focusing on them. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all?

After he had watched two movies, Jacuzzi turned around to see the adults all beginning to get up and collect the children in their parties. "Alright, it's time for the main attraction!" said one of the women.

"T-this is… the haunted house…?" said Jacuzzi nervously.

"Yeah," said Shinji. "Come in line."

The line of characters led to a small door at the far corner of the room. Jacuzzi stood behind Shinji, feeling terror rise inside of him for the millionth time that night. "Is… is this… the last thing?" he asked.

"The last and the best," said Misato.

"Except cleanup," Rei put in.

"Well, yeah," said Misato. "We should be done in here at about midnight."

"I can't wait to see the look on your face when you get in there!" Asuka taunted, "I'll bet you'll be even more of a scaredy-cat than Shinji is!"

"Asuka, why…?" Shinji murmured. But she didn't seem to have heard him.

Jacuzzi heaved a deep sigh. Well, this was it, then, and then he would be done in here. He just hoped he could make it through this haunted house in one piece.


	4. Chapter 4:The Haunted House

As the line Jacuzzi was in grew shorter and shorter, he became more and more nervous. He was torn between wanting to go into the haunted house and get it over with, and wanting the line to be longer so he wouldn't have to go in. "W-what's in there, anyway?" asked Jacuzzi.

"All sorts of things," said Misato, "Don't worry, though. Don't touch them, and they won't touch you."

Before he knew it, however, he was right at the entrance, and then he was following Misato, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei into a dark, smoky room, full of lots of moving chairs and bouncing lights. Jacuzzi sat down in the same chair as the four of them, and they were scooted quickly across to the edge of a steep drop. Jacuzzi gripped the chair hard, willing himself not to fall; but it stopped so abruptly that everyone was thrown off, including Jacuzzi, who tumbled after the quartet screaming all the way.

This barely visible slide took them down, down, down, until they were deep in a basement-like area. Immediately they were set upon by ghouls and monsters of all sorts. Some were ghosts, some were ogre-like creatures, some were aliens, and some looked just plain unidentifiable. The group quickly ran through a tunnel past the monsters.

"I thought you said they weren't going to touch us!" Jacuzzi whined.

"They aren't touching you," Rei pointed out.

Still, the monsters came just about as close as they could get without actually touching anyone. And this was more than enough for Jacuzzi, who repeatedly found himself grabbing onto the other characters in shock, much to their consternation.

Once they had broken through the monsters, they found themselves at the edge of a lake full of red liquid. Jacuzzi heard a loud creak, and then a crash, and he felt a gust of wind. Turning around, he saw that a big iron door had just closed behind them. "W-what was that?" he asked.

"Oh, every time you complete a section of the haunted house," said Misato, "a door closes behind it. There's no opening those doors, so far as we know. You can't go back through the house, you can only go forward."

Just then a small flume boat with a single candle lighting the deck came to them, and all five filed in. Jacuzzi took a good, hard look at the liquid in the flume to discover body parts: hands, organs, and eyeballs, floating in it. He covered his mouth to keep from throwing up, and sat back in the boat.

"Are… are we riding a flume through… b-blood?" he gasped.

"Yes," said Rei softly. Jacuzzi gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of where it all could have come from.

As they rode through the blood, Jacuzzi turned his attention to the banks of this little river. On them, he saw all sorts of lights, flashes, and scenes of monsters, on farms, on the high seas, just about everywhere. Some of them appeared to be actually drinking the blood. The trip might actually have been fairly relaxing, if not for the organs that continuously surfaced in the blood, and the tendency of the creatures on either side of the river to jump out at them, even going so far as to touch and rock the boat.

Before too long, the boat ride ended, and everyone stepped out onto dry land again. When Jacuzzi went to get out, however, the boat tipped just a little too far and he fell in the blood. He started crying and dancing around like crazy, until Rei caught him and held him steady.

"Climb out, it's not that deep," said Misato.

Jacuzzi felt his feet around and realized that yes, he could stand. The floor was so soft and squishy and uncomfortable that he yanked himself out onto dry land in shock, and sat there for awhile, shaking. "It's okay," said Misato, pulling him up roughly, "You're fine."

"I'm c-covered in b-blood!" Jacuzzi whined.

"Coward," Asuka muttered.

"We need to get going now," said Rei. And with that, she started to disappear down the tunnel. Jacuzzi, noticing her walking away, mustered the strength to pick himself up and carry on, still dripping with the heavy liquid.

As the group wandered down another corridor, Jacuzzi saw something dark and brown flitting up ahead. It took him a second to realize that the something was a bat, flying straight at them! He ducked, and when he stood up the bat was gone. When he looked behind him, he saw the bat coming at him again, and ducked a second time. When he stood up again, the bat was flying at him yet again, but the other four were already gone, toward the end of the tunnel. Jacuzzi ducked the bat for the third time, and then ran straight for the next room.

He ran until he had caught right up with the other characters. Asuka was the first to notice him. "Oh, will you keep up please?" she shouted. "It's hard enough to keep track of Shinji, stupid!" In an attempt to ignore her, Jacuzzi turned his attention to his surroundings. The group was in a lab, with lots of brightly-colored liquids sitting in vials and other equipment on the desks. A few rats ran out from under a table, and for once, Jacuzzi did not jump. He was used to rats. As he nervously followed Misato, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka around a corner he kept a wary eye out for anything that could jump out of the many cupboards and cabinets. On one shelf he saw repulsive-looking body parts and small animals floating in green liquid; in one corner he saw cages of larger animals, which looked like several different species put together. They all growled and hissed at him, and a few put their appendages through the bars, as though to try and grab him or trip him up.

The next second, one such chimera, which looked most like a cross between a human and a lizard, jumped out of a nearby door. Jacuzzi screamed again, and ran after the other four, who deftly navigated the lab which was beginning to fill up with smoke and flashes of light as the creature dashed over the lab, smashing glassware and spilling chemicals all over the floor. Soon Jacuzzi couldn't see. His only trace of any of the other four was a faint view of Shinji's white shirt and brown hair. "Shinji!" he shouted, "Where are you?" He coughed and gagged as he felt the chemicals, whatever they were, enter his lungs. "P-please come find me!"

"We're over here…!" Came a voice, which Jacuzzi was too disoriented to place.

"Where?" he screamed.

"Can you follow the sound of our voice?"

"I… no!"

"Try!"

"Can you come in after me?"

"I can't see you!"

Jacuzzi began desperately trying to feel his way around the lab, which just then went completely dark. "AAh!" he screamed, again, "I can't see! It's so dark in here!"

"It's okay," came the voice, "Things'll get clearer in a minute! Just come follow our voice!"

"You seriously wanna wait around any longer for this stupid moron?" It was Asuka.

"We can't just leave him to wander the haunted house alone." Shinji.

As the two of them squabbled, Jacuzzi began to realize that visibility was slowly returning. Soon, Misato, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka were visible above all the smoke, framed by a faint glow at the end of the display, and Jacuzzi was able to run to the exit with them, just as the whole lab burst into flames.

Yet another long passageway led the group to a long tunnel, guarded by a giant, multi-colored face. "Oh- the living…," said the face, "Welcome to our… UNDERWORLD!" And with that, he parted, revealing a long tunnel. Jacuzzi was shaking in his boots, but he followed Misato, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei. It was then that he noticed the tunnel in there was moving, and that images of flaming-red distorted faces lined the inside. He bit his lip and tried to ignore them, but he felt himself get dizzier and dizzier the longer he spent in the tunnel. When he finally made it to the end, his entire world appeared to be swirling.

Now the group descended yet another flight of stairs, into a dark, wet cave. There were motion-activated torches to light the way, and the five of them made their way along a dark passage, skirting a big, shallow lake.

Suddenly, however, the ground began to tremble, and hands, in various stages of decomposition and covered in dirt and blood, sprouted out of the ground by the dozen. All sorts of ragged creatures, their flesh peeling off and their organs rotting out of their bones, dug themselves out of the ground, the lake, and the walls, to come chasing after the five of them. Jacuzzi began to cry, yet again.

"Oh, quit your sniveling!" Asuka managed to shout even as she ran away, "They're just zombies!"

"B-but… I've never seen a dead, rotting corpse that could move!" Jacuzzi whimpered.

"Asuka, this isn't the time," Shinji whispered.

They all ran around the edge of the lake, and then Jacuzzi fell in. He rushed to find his footing as the zombies and some sea monsters with sharp teeth and burning eyes began circling him. "How'd you like to come over for _dinner_?" one of them taunted.

"Help!" Jacuzzi screamed, running straight through them onto dry land.

He was still shaking by the time they found the next staircase, which led both up and down. Jacuzzi, who had been fully expecting and fearing that they would continue to go down, was relieved, almost in spite of himself, to find that they were going up instead.

Along the way up the stairwell, which turned from stone to wood as they climbed, Jacuzzi could swear he saw a little green dragon nestled in a corner, sleeping in front of a large crevice. Behind the crevice came a wisp of steam and a small growl. The group hadn't gotten more than halfway up the stairs when they heard a gigantic crack behind them, and a big red-and-black dragon burst through the wall and onto the stairs. It began jumping higher, and higher, ultimately soaring up into the air. Jacuzzi felt a lingering dread as to what would happen if it ever came back down.

Just as they had almost made it to the top of the stairs, the dragon came back down, nosediving through the stairwell and burning and shattering the wood. Jacuzzi, who unfortunately just happened to be the last one up, suddenly lost his balance and felt himself slip. The next thing he knew, he was dangling over a dark pit and clinging to the top of the stairs. "Help me!" he screamed.

In an unthinking moment, Shinji ran back over to Jacuzzi, followed by Asuka. "There's no way I'm letting you win this day, Wonder Boy!" Asuka shouted.

"Asuka, don't," said Shinji.

"You think you're hot stuff, running to save this poor little loser?" said Asuka.

"Asuka, just go on," Shinji sighed.

"No way! I can't let you have the satisfaction of saving anyone by yourself!" Asuka shouted. "It's bad enough that you get to be the big hero in show!"

"You guys…!" Jacuzzi moaned through gritted teeth, "Can you just stop fighting and help me?" He could feel his fingers slipping, bit by painful bit. There was no way he would be able to hang on much longer.

"Oh, just shut up!" Asuka screamed at no one in particular. Both were leaning over the giant pit when Jacuzzi started to slip, and both grabbed his hand a second too late. He fell, and since neither Shinji nor Asuka could hold that much weight on such bad balance, they fell in with him.

Misato and Rei, for their part, had already made it safely to the end of the segment. By the time they turned around to go after Shinji, Asuka, and Jacuzzi, the door had already closed behind them. "We can't go back," Rei observed. "The haunted house doesn't work that way."

"But I heard them fall," said Misato, "They've probably fallen into the optional segment of the house."

"The scariest part of all," Rei put in. "Only a few of us have ever been in there more than once.

"Yeah," Misato sighed. "But Shinji and Asuka both know their way around. Jacuzzi should be okay, if he's with them." She sighed again. "We just have to keep going on. Those kids should be okay. That segment isn't any more dangerous than any other part, just scarier. And it's a lot shorter." They started winding their way toward the exit.


	5. Chapter 5:The Haunted House: Completed

_Aaaand… here we have the stunning conclusion of Jacuzzi's Halloween adventure with Shinji. You guys are gonna love this! _

Shinji and Jacuzzi fell down, down, down, into complete darkness. Suddenly, they could see a huge fiery pit beneath them. Before they knew what was happening, they crash-landed in a large net, which broke their fall and then dropped them off on the burning-hot sand. The two of them took in their surroundings for awhile. "Oh, no," said Shinji.

"W-what?" Jacuzzi screamed.

"This is the scariest part of the entire haunted house," Shinji whispered, "I only came here once, and I vowed never to come here again."

"You morons!" Asuka screamed, "Now I'm stuck down here!" Her voice was quivering.

The three kids continued to walk along, They weren't alone. A few other characters whom Jacuzzi recognized from earlier were there, including the big, brawny man, the man with long, white hair, and the dark woman. The kids wondered if they should speak, but just then, the men and woman burst into flames, and seemed to disintegrate before their eyes. Jacuzzi tried to call to Shinji and Asuka, but then he realized that they were on fire too, and disintegrating fast. Too stunned to speak, he came face-to-face with a giant demon, with horns and wings. "WELCOME TO HELL!" the demon roared, "PREPARE TO BURN!" Then the demon's eyes turned into huge fanged mouths, each looking like the one in the center of the demon's face. Jacuzzi was too scared to move or scream. But in the next second, he felt a sharp jolt underneath him, and then he was going up and up. Slowly recovering focus, he realized that he was rising on the neck of the dragon from earlier. And Shinji and Asuka were right behind him, clinging to its back.

The dragon climbed so high, so fast, that the teenagers' eyes stung and their ears ached from the cool rush of wind. "This is a fine mess you've gotten me into, moron!" Asuka screamed as her dress and hair billowed out around her. Jacuzzi resisted the urge to shout something back. The dragon continued to climb, up and up until the children had a total aerial view of the Library's neighborhood, and the giant clock in the middle of town was at their eye level. Then it stopped, and plunged downward, eventually coming to a rough landing on the haunted house's roof, where it thrashed and roared. "How do we get off of here?" Jacuzzi screamed.

"I dunno, genius!" Asuka screamed. "I've never done this before!"

"Okay…," said Jacuzzi, "Lemme think… um…." It was then that he realized that the dragon's head, where he was located, appeared to be the closest to the ground. "I have a plan!" he shouted back to Shinji and Asuka, "Asuka, link hands with Shinji, quick!"

"Eew, what?" Asuka retorted.

"There's no time for that!" Jacuzzi insisted, "I'm trying to help you get off!"

"Fine," Asuka grumbled. She reached up tentatively, pressing herself against the dragon, and grabbed Shinji's hand.

"Now what?" Shinji yelled.

"Now… Shinji, you grab my hand!" Jacuzzi continued. Shinji inched slightly forward, and Jacuzzi bent backward a little, until the two of them could reach each other's hands. "Okay…," said Jacuzzi, "Now… I'm going to drop off the dragon. Don't let go, whatever you do!" he ordered. "Here goes," he muttered to himself, swinging his legs onto the ground and releasing his grip on the dragon's neck. He fell to the ground, and Asuka and Shinji fell on top of him as the dragon threw them off and flew away.

The three children picked themselves up. "You stupid, stupid moron!" Asuka screamed at Jacuzzi, "How dare you? You… you… I hate you so much!" She slapped Jacuzzi in the face.

"You were the one who asked for help," Jacuzzi protested.

"But… but I… oh…. Nobody understands me!" Asuka screamed, bursting into tears. She slapped Shinji again. "Why… oh… I have to be saved by a stupid scaredy cat who's never even done this before!" She ran ahead, "I'll be on the roller coaster!"

"This way," said Shinji with a sad little smile. Jacuzzi sighed as he ran after the boy and girl to a big structure that made loops and corkscrews up into the night sky, and went back down into the house again. The three of them got on pumpkin-shaped cars that took them all over the place, first deep down into the ground, where they came across a group of mummies scurrying in and out of their sarcophagi, and then up into a bell tower where a witch sat cooking something over the fire and grabbed for them. But before she could do so, they cut across the roof to a gargoyle, which jumped out at them, and finally, they plunged down into the house again, where a skeleton greeted them at the end. "Happy Halloween," it taunted.

That was where they unloaded. "So… how much more of this is there?" Jacuzzi breathed.

"Oh, there's just one more piece," said Asuka with a rather nasty smile. Shinji cringed.

"That way," the skeleton motioned toward a red exit sign, which seemed to be a long way off. Jacuzzi felt a sudden jolt of energy, and he ran for it, with Shinji and Asuka following behind him.

The last section of the haunted house consisted of something that looked innocently enough like a corn maze. Suddenly, a strobe light came on. Jacuzzi couldn't see Shinji or Asuka at all, and he could barely see the ghosts and monsters that peeked out at him from around corners. By looking around a little, he was just able to keep the red exit sign in view, and it gradually grew bigger and bigger. Suddenly, he heard cries of "This way!" and "That way!" coming from Shinji and Asuka. Soon, Shinji and Asuka appeared in his view. "Take my hand!" Shinji shouted to him. Jacuzzi did so, and the two young teenagers pulled him through the maze, closer and closer to the exit, until they burst through it out into the cool night air.

As Jacuzzi closed the door behind the three of them and blinked to recover from the flashing lights, he could see the giant clock tower in the center of town. It was five minutes until midnight. Halloween was almost over.

Suddenly, overcome with relief and unable to contain himself, Jacuzzi burst out laughing. He laughed as he had never laughed before. "Just what are you so happy about?" Asuka demanded.

"I… I j-just conquered a whole h-haunted house!" Jacuzzi choked. He grabbed Shinji's and Asuka's hands. "Thank you both, so much!"

For awhile, Shinji and Asuka just stared at him. Shinji gave a sad little smile. Then he said: "So… we should really be getting back to the library. There's still cleanup to do." And he and Asuka ran off, with Jacuzzi following slowly, shivering a little in the cold.

_They did the mash,_

_They did the Monster Mash…_

When Jacuzzi re-entered the library, he noticed that all the other characters were taking down the decorations, while party music played and some of the children danced. Everyone seemed fascinated to see him. "So, you made it through the whole haunted house by yourself?"

"No, not really," he replied, scuffing his feet modestly, "Shinji and Asuka, they… they were a big help."

Upon entering the library, Shinji and Asuka immediately, almost instinctively, began to take down decorations. "We only have about a thirty- to forty-five-minute grace period after midnight," Shinji explained, "By then everything we put up ourselves has to be taken down."

"That whole haunted house…?" Jacuzzi began.

"Oh, that was generated by magic," said Shinji.

There was a lot of work that had to be done, but the music made it fun. Some of the songs were quite short; others were a little longer. Once or twice Jacuzzi felt the urge to get up and dance.

By the time all the party items had been packed away, more than a half-hour had passed since midnight. The children all crowded around the heavy contraption Jacuzzi had seen earlier, and now realized had to be a music player. The music changed again and everyone began cheering. "Last song!" the children screamed. Jacuzzi felt his feet tap as he listened to the cheerful music, and he wondered if he should get on the floor.

_Shake, shake, shake Senora_

_Shake your body line…_

"Do you want to dance?" It was Rika, the blue-haired girl from earlier.

"I…," said Jacuzzi, "I don't really dance."

"Aww, you should come on!" Rika insisted, "You'll like it! My friends and I can teach you!"

"I… alright," said Jacuzzi, who dragged his feet to the dance floor and did the best he could to move to the rhythm.

After the song was over, the music stopped, and the various party guests quickly began to collect themselves into groups and depart. They vanished behind the bookshelves and up and down floors, and soon Jacuzzi was completely alone. It was only then that he realized how exhausted he was. He scanned the room for a nice soft sofa. Having found one, he dragged his feet over to it, flopped down on it, and fell asleep at once. Despite his fears that all the creatures he had seen in the haunted house would give him nightmares, he slept well.

_Please note that although this is the end of Jacuzzi's Halloween adventure it isn't the end of the story itself. There is an epilogue._


	6. Epilogue: The Following Morning

The Next Morning

_So, this is the last section to my Halloween story. I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!_

The next time Jacuzzi woke up, he found himself in the arms of Nice. Cheers of "Hey, he's up at last!" came from a short distance away.

"Honestly, Jacuzzi," said Nice, "We've been trying to wake you up for the past twenty minutes!"

"S-sorry," said Jacuzzi, rubbing his eyes. "I've… I've just… I came in here last night. There was a Halloween party…."

"So that's why you were already here when the rest of us came, then?" said Nice.

"Yeah," said Jacuzzi, smiling a little. "It was actually pretty fun," he confessed with a laugh.

"Really?" said Nice.

"Y-yeah," said Jacuzzi, "It was really scary but really fun. They… they served me eyeball custard."

"You ate… eyeball custard?" Nice said with a rather disgusted expression on her face.

"Yeah, and it actually didn't taste too bad," Jacuzzi confessed.

"Made with real eyeballs?"

"Honestly, yes," said Jacuzzi, "That wasn't even the weirdest thing they had. But then we went through this big haunted house. It was this huge structure on the library, with all sorts of scary creatures in it…."

"That sounds incredible," said Nice.

"Yeah, it was," said Jacuzzi, "And I wandered around it with these two kids, and… and eventually we got caught up riding a dragon…."

"You rode a dragon?"

"Y-yeah," said Jacuzzi, "T-that was really… something. We went all the way up in the air; I thought I was going to fall off and die…." Jacuzzi sat looking pensive for awhile; then he continued, "It's amazing what some of those other characters put up with, though. The scariest things I saw in that house were apparently less scary than what they deal with all the time."

"Gee," said Nice, "And I thought danger was our business…." She shrugged. "Oh, well, it's time to set up camp. We were just waiting until you got up," she said to Jacuzzi, "Now we'd better get started, before Ladd and his gang get here."

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from around the corner: "Look who's here!"

"Oh, no," Nice grumbled. "It's him!"

Ladd strode confidently into the room, followed dutifully by Lua. "Hey, look, Lua!" Ladd shouted, "Those people are fixing to stay here! What say you we go tear down everything they set up?"

"Sure…,"said Lua softly, "Y-you will trample me once we're done, right?"

"Of course, doll, anything for you!"

But Jacuzzi, realizing how unnerved he ought to be, felt strangely affectionate. He wasn't scared of Ladd in the least, not after his adventure last night. He couldn't be scared of such a friendly enemy. He studied Ladd hard, unwilling to initiate an exchange, and yet savoring the feeling of not actually being scared.

As Jacuzzi stood pondering, and Ladd wondered why Jacuzzi just kept staring at him, Isaac and Miria appeared. "Hey, Isaac and Miria!" Nice called to them, standing up and waving just as Jacuzzi had been a minute ago.

"Nice! Jacuzzi!" the two of them screamed in unison. When they saw Ladd and Lua, the two of them composed themselves for a brief spell, saying: "Oh, hello Ladd and Lua," before jumping on Nice and Jacuzzi and enveloping them in hugs. "We love you so much!" said Isaac.

"This Thanksgiving's gonna be the best ever!" Miria squealed. "And this time we promise to buy everyone a really expensive present for Black Friday!"

"But you've already tried that at least ten times," Nice protested, "You know we can't take them back into our world."

"We've found a way this time!" Isaac pressed.

"Where there's a will, there's a way!" Miria chirped.

"You guys are great!" Jacuzzi wept happily. After such a weird night, it was good to be back with his own people again.

**The End**


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